COP26: AFD Group Strengthens its Commitment to Combat Climate Change and Protect Biodiversity

AFD Group:

• Implements France's enhanced objective of providing 6 billion euros (7 billion USD) of climate financing per year starting in 2021, 1/3 of which is devoted to adaptation.
• Assists developing countries on all continents in their long-term strategies and defining their NDCs. AFD will implement the declaration signed by South Africa, France, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission on a just transition. AFD also supported Colombia in defining its long-term strategy, and Vietnam in modeling the impacts of climate change.
• Supports the energy transition and a pro-nature transition: it is committed to a "no net loss" policy on biodiversity and is bringing together climate financing and biodiversity financing. It will be a signatory to the Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition and will no longer finance fossil fuels, including electricity and heat production from natural gas.

Climate financing and alignment with the Paris Agreement: An enhanced ambition for the future

Since the Paris Agreement, AFD Group has provided 30 billion euros in climate financing, including 7 billion euros for adaptation. AFD is thus implementing France's contribution to the €100 billion target, raised by France in December 2020 to €6 billion ($7 billion) of climate financing per year for developing countries, one-third of which is dedicated to adaptation.

AFD Group endorses the Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition and pledges in Glasgow to focus its financial support on a decarbonized energy transition and to move away from financing fossil fuels, including natural gas. This commitment involves the entire Group in all of AFD's partner countries. 

For the first time, AFD published a Taskforce on Climate Financial related Disclosure at COP26, thus reinforcing its efforts as regards transparency, and demonstrating the central role given to financial risks tied to the climate – as well as the opportunities – in terms of governance, strategy and dialog with AFD’s partners and customers. 

AFD supports a pro-nature agenda that is integrated with the fight against climate change

AFD contributes 600 million euros per year to pro-nature financing, adopting and promoting nature-friendly solutions in many areas (water, urban development and agriculture), while consolidating its land and marine biodiversity conservation efforts. AFD is making its criteria more selective to ensure that none of its financing for projects will harm nature, with the objective of a "no net loss for nature" to begin to take effect in early 2022.

AFD supports the "Convergence of Climate Financing for Biodiversity" coalition with other development banks. AFD is on track to reach 30% of climate positive financing for nature by 2025 (over 20% in 2020).

AFD hosts the Development Finance Hub of the TNFD (Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure) to represent public banks within the initiative's secretariat. Launched in Paris in October 2020, this private sector-led initiative aims to develop a joint methodological approach for financial institutions and businesses to assess, monitor, and disclose financial risks related to biodiversity decline. 

AFD supports its partners on all continents

AFD supports the declaration signed by France, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission with South Africa to support the country's just transition to a low-carbon economy through an orderly phase-out of coal.

AFD is also supporting Colombia in drawing up its 2050 long-term strategy published at COP26.

The report from the GEMMES project with Vietnam for COP26 is an opportunity to model the future impacts of climate change in this country, from climate scenarios to sector-based and macroeconomic impacts, including a detailed study of the emblematic case of the Mekong Delta. This unprecedented work mobilized some sixty researchers and experts in Vietnam and France, the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and AFD's research department. 

AFD is also supporting Morocco's Ministry of Economy and Finance in anticipating the consequences of climate change on agriculture and the Moroccan economy. This GEMMES modeling work will be used to assess the government's long-term strategy. 

AFD announces the launch of phase 2 (2022-2026) of the €15M Adapt'Action Facility, which will be entirely devoted to vulnerable African countries. The objective is to continue supporting the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems in partner countries to make them more resilient to the effects of climate change.

AFD has kept its commitment to invest 3 billion euros between 2016 and 2020 to support Africa's energy transition as part of the African Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) launched at COP21.

Finally, apart from governments, COP26 is an opportunity for AFD to move forward with all its public and private partners through initiatives such as the Climate Finance Partnership in collaboration with Blackrock, and with public development banks that are members of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) as well as with the Finance in Common movement (FICs).

Media Contact: Gabrielle Vallières – _AFDpresse@afd.fr